Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky died of tuberculosis when he was only 37, yet he was already a widely known Russian psychologist. His theories, especially those on language development in childhood, would later influence education in Russia. Vygotsky first studied medicine and then switched to law and literature. At age 28, he took up psychology and, although he never had formal training, he received his doctorate in psychology from the Moscow Institute of Psychology based on his research project, "The Psychology of Art" in 1925. Alexander Luria and Alexei Leontiev collaborated with Vygotsky and helped establish what is now known as the Vygotskian approach. Vygotsky was born on this date in 1896.

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